


Wings

by cherrylng



Category: L'Arc~en~Ciel
Genre: AU, Angst, Fluff, Humour, Loss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-20
Updated: 2013-09-20
Packaged: 2017-12-27 03:43:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/973902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylng/pseuds/cherrylng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ken is a demon. Hyde is a fallen angel. But unlike most fallen angels, he lost his wings. Ken can’t see what they used to be like, but one thing he wants to do is to find a way to bring them back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wings

**Author's Note:**

> This was for a challenge in laruku_in_words from Livejournal.

Hell is never that bad as some have assumed. Sure, they do have sinners to be punished for the horrendous and sickening acts that they have done in their previous acts that justifies their punishments, but on the whole, it’s almost like Heaven, but a lot of them are more likely to be open-minded and friendly without malicious intentions. The angels who stayed up in Heaven tend to not realise that. If they do, they usually hide it with their wings and veils of ignorance.  
  
Hell is where Ken came from. Or ended up in. He uses either one of them to float other people’s boats for their cravings for answers in their little opinionated minds. If they ask more, he lets them figure things out. He never cared. He does care more for his home on Earth. It’s chaotic; it heaves and sighs in progress and regression. But Ken likes it, and so do some demons, angels and other worldly beings that resided there.  
  
Living the life of a ‘human’ is not bad, in Ken’s opinion. The beings that live here seem to revere artists and writers, whether they’re alive or have moved on to another realm, so being a famous rock guitarist is pretty spectacular for him. He gives praise to those he looks up to and gets gushing praises from those who see him as an inspiration. But in all of the different lifetimes that he has lived through as a ‘human’, nothing in Ken’s life has surprised and shocked him as seeing an angel like Hyde.  
  
He met him through Tetsu, a charismatic if very ambitious young immortal. He met Tetsu when he was on his stage of ending the first ‘lifetime’ of his infinite life, but that’s another story for another time. Tetsu met Hyde in some dingy livehouse where he claims to Ken that his voice is just ‘angelic’ (pun unintended) and he needs him to join the band. He is amazing, in Ken’s opinion when they tried out a session the first time, and it was easy to adjust the music to flow along with his voice. And it was also obvious thanks to Ken’s eyes that he can see that Hyde is an angel, the faint aura of light that casts and moulds itself around Hyde.  
  
Like Tetsu, he was already infatuated towards the petite singer. And there was a need to have Hyde in his lair.  
  
Not so much in his living conditions. Angels love to live lavishly, despite what their depiction of frugality shows otherwise. They are frugal, but they still love to live in safe and nice environments, so they’re pretty willing to pay the price. Hyde living in an abandoned building in a run down, used to be working class area (Ken remembers that this place has a high crime rate) with a tarp to fix the roof and broken furniture as his living quarters is something not even demons would curse angels to end up in. That would be too rude, and they’re just as guilty to love lavish lives.  
  
And just so wrong for Ken to see Hyde living in a place like this.  
  
The dilapidated building that Hyde calls home is not exactly the right place to kiss Hyde for the first time, rain hammering down on the tarp and leaking by the sides, turning the room into a humid, moist and somewhat uncomfortable place to live the night. It was a good thing that Hyde reciprocated his feelings to Ken, because the kissing thing was unplanned for. The planned one was Ken asking if Hyde wants to stay with him and live in a comfortable home with an actual roof over their heads. Hyde was fast to say yes, pack up, and kicked Ken’s ass for being slow to get to the car.  
  
Ken couldn’t find anything wrong with that. At least Hyde agreed to live with him.  
  


* * *

  
  
It was when Hyde is living with him that there were more mysteries around the angel. There aren’t exactly many tell-tale signs, but it’s there. Ken already suspects that he is no longer a pure angel since finding out about where he used to live. It took a lot of carefully placed pokes and prods (and food) to get Hyde to explain why he is like this and what happened.  
  
“I  _am_  a fallen angel, just one of those rare cases,” Hyde says. “There are just some technical differences, but I’m still one.”  
  
“So that explains why you still glow like one when you’re asleep,” Ken commented.  
  
“Do you stare at me when I sleep?” Hyde raises his eyebrow.  
  
“Yes,” Ken bluntly states it. “When I can’t sleep, I just look at you sleeping peacefully. So I see that you occasionally glow.”  
  
Hyde hits his head lightly, but he is not really that offended by Ken’s activities at night. Just a bit freaked out.  
  
“So what happens to those who didn’t leave on time?” Ken asks. He is curious, since such information is rare to come about.  
  
“They get punished and then banished,” Hyde answers. “Who knew even in Heaven, you are judged for what you say?”  
  
And all he had done wrong for getting this punishment was that he declared out loud that he doesn’t love God, the one and only Creator, as Hyde explains on. Ken knows of some angels who don’t really love God all the time, but most of the time, that statement is a hushed secret, never spoken out loud, and best remain away from ever reaching your mouth. Ken knows that saying out loud such a bold statement means that you need to prepare your way out of Heaven.  
  
For an angel like Hyde, Ken has to admit that Hyde had balls to show out such a statement to the Creator of the very flaws of basic principles that has caused problems time and again and stayed there.  
  
The second thing was on Hyde’s back. Hyde often insisted on having sex in the darkness and never touching his back. But sometimes, Ken can see what happened to Hyde’s back and know why. The scars had been able to peek itself through the towel after showers time after time. Although he has never seen Hyde’s wings before they met, Ken could imagine how it could’ve looked like. White on wings is a rare colour among angels themselves due to how it never stays purely white, but Hyde would’ve been perfect in those white wings that used to wrap around his body, the feathers soft and smooth to the touch, Ken imagined. It will look like a beautiful contrast against his black. It also makes him wonder if Hyde misses his wings.  
  
Sometimes he let the questions slip out of his mind and towards his mouth accidentally. Hyde would both smile and answer the past is the past, or just shrugs and that’s it.  
  
A very upset Hyde shows the full explanation, and a point of view.  
  
“Why should I be envious of something that I know that I can’t have it back?” Hyde says, showing that he never agonised over it. “Why would I want things that can never come back for me? It’s useless to wish and hope for what’s a lost cause.  
  
“I always thought that it was weird that when they preached free thinking and love for God, they did the exact opposite. When I’ve done both of them, suddenly I’m the heretic. I stayed not only because I took the punishment, but because I wanted to spit at their faces and swear to God that the preachers around them are the greatest hypocrites of all, especially to their listeners.”  
  
“So… What happened to…?” Ken had gesture his hands to tell Hyde what he’s talking about.  
  
“They cut it off and burned it,” Hyde looks away from the demon, pain evident from his eyes as he blinked back tears. “Burned it right in front of me until it was turned into nothing but ashes. It was white before they cut them down, and it was white when the flames died down.”  
  
Ken was tempted to just pick him up and fly off with him to somewhere just to make all his pain go away, and the wind to wipe his tears off.  
  
Instead, Ken hummed, wrapping his arms around the lithe body, his wings wrapping around them like a veiled curtain for them. He kisses Hyde’s forehead and eyelids. He says nothing, preferring to soothe Hyde’s pain away by giving him kisses on his face while the feathers on his wings lightly strokes his body.  
  
He hears a sigh from Hyde, snuggling as close as to him as they physically can for the comfort that Ken provides for him.  
  
Sometimes Ken was forgotten by many that he can be an understanding person, provided that they accept that he is a demon who cares for those close to him.  
  
He loves Hyde, he really does.  
  
But he knows that he can’t always mend Hyde’s wounds that easily.  
  


* * *

  
  
Hyde swears that he never misses his wings.  
  
However, since Hyde is not a very good liar, there were signs that he still does. At times he seems confused and looks at his back, as though wondering why he isn’t flying, before having to remind himself that he no longer has them. A stiff breeze would trigger an effect that Ken reminiscences how people with amputated limbs feel. Phantom limbs that make it almost impossible to forget how your arms and legs move by your brain’s signal for the nerve systems there. In Hyde’s case, he’s suffering from phantom wings. Despite all the claims that he never does, never will. He never was envious of Ken whose wings just look magnificent in its might whenever Ken pulls them out for a groom, as he once told the demon. Ken knew that that was half true. Sometimes Ken catches Hyde drawing wings on his notebooks.  
  
Although Hyde is now comfortable to let Ken see his back, Ken wishes that he can find any way to have Hyde’s wings back. But nothing works. To Ken, he knows that it has to be a 100% success rate, and permanent. When he passed by and met an acquaintance who not only is an angel, but also a musician like him, he saw his arms, and found what  _might_ work. Why did he overlook something like that for so long?  
  
So the night before Ken showed him his idea, he gives Hyde one of the most lavishing attentions to detail of his appreciation of the angel for him, making love to him as though tomorrow will be the end for them. He could have gotten away with from giving Hyde suspicions if not for one thing he tends to do after sex.  
  
“Ken-chan, you giving me back rubs means that you got something you’re keeping away from me,” Hyde tells him after a good round of sex. Already revealing the truth previously, Hyde relaxed down on his insecurities to show his naked body to Ken. And the back rubs Ken gives are a killer.  
  
“Why would you think I do?” Ken asks, pulling back his hands. Well, he should have never have done that.  
  
“Because I know you by now, and you got something for me, don’t you?” Hyde turns around and looks at him, his eyes serious though amused. He smiles and jokingly punches Ken’s arm. “Come on, show me. I want to know what kind of surprise you got for me tonight.”  
  
Having been caught, Ken pulled out a sketchbook from the drawer of his side and handed it to the shorter man. “Just the front two pages. There’s nothing else to see beyond there.”  
  
Hyde smirked at him and opened the sketchbook, expecting something crappy coming from Ken. His face froze into surprise. The first drawing was a pair of wings like Hyde would’ve had drawn, beautiful and intricate but still simple in design. The second page shows what those pair of wings would look like on his back (Ken left Hyde’s name on an arrow mark next to the drawing). It melds very well onto his body, like it was meant to be there for some reason.  
  
“I’m not the best at drawing around here, but I wanted to show it to you,” Ken says, scratching the back of his head (Hyde was tempted to hit Ken’s head for saying that but pulled back at that idea). It was best to let this plan slowly unfold. Hyde remained silent until he looks up at him.  
  
“It’s… beautiful. I like it, Ken,” Hyde beams at him, giving him a kiss to thank him for the sketch. Now comes the harder part of the plan.  
  
“You can have them on you—I mean, your body,” Ken had to elaborate when Hyde can’t really understand what he’s trying to say. “You can turn it into a tattoo. I know a friend who recommended me a tattoo artist who is good enough to do it.”  
  
“A drawing… on my back,” Hyde mutters, his eyes wandering upwards but looking at nowhere. He shivered at something he was thinking about. “It’ll probably hurt…”  
  
“It will,” Ken corrects him. Well thanks, Captain Obvious.  
  
“…Compared to a sword, a needle wouldn’t hurt, right?” Hyde’s eyes turn to him, the corner of his lips tilting to a smile.  
  
Hyde’s smile had never left, not even when he fell asleep. It was the most comforting sight for Ken to see before joining Hyde along for a shut eye.  
  


* * *

  
  
It was scary for Hyde to do it. Because having a needle jabbing ink on where your wings used to reside was nerve wracking, both subjective and objective in a way.  
  
Hyde never had a tattoo before, and was never interested in it until that night. Also, there were still some nerve endings where his wings used to be.  
  
It almost felt like pricking a needle on sensitive parts of his body, with some nerve endings being closer to the surface of the skin. But he braved it out, holding onto Ken’s hands and whimper in a pathetic sound whenever he thought the needle jabbed somewhere a little too close to home.  
  
“You’re really sensitive on your back, aren’t ya?” the tattoo artist gave a throaty laugh.  
  
“You have no idea…” Hyde mutters before yelping at another too-close-to-home area on his back, squeezing Ken’s hand hard. Ken winced every time Hyde squeezed his hand till it was almost on breaking point. He needs that hand for his guitar, but still uses his free hand to rub soothing circles on the angel’s hand.  
  
It was worth it in the end though.  
  
When the tattoo artist declared that it was done, he showed his masterpiece to the lithe angel by a mirror, and Hyde gaped. Although it was only ink, Ken could see Hyde’s expression that tells it all. It was as though what Hyde thought was lost forever, came back in another form. He was a bit disappointed that they had to be patched up in bandages. But Ken says that once the ink has settled in and the pain is gone, he can see them again.  
  
“How does it feel?” Ken asks once they left the tattoo parlour.  
  
“It feels like… like my wings were there the whole time,” Hyde admits, then chuckles. “The bandages also give me some memories when my back was like this. A sword hurts like a motherfucker compared to getting a tattoo.”  
  
“Are you really happy with it?” Ken asks. He knows, but he wants to be sure.  
  
“Yes. Yes, I am happy with it,” Hyde giggles.   
  
“Guess the pen’s mightier than the sword,” Ken chuckles.  
  
“In a way, it really is,” Hyde smirks, punching Ken’s arm lightly. “This is the best gift  _ever_.”  
  
Hyde had never been happier to have ‘wings’ again. He can’t fly, but in his own world, it was as though he could fly high up to the sky again, right beside Ken. He shows it off to Tetsu and Yukihiro, which both men complimented the tattoos. He even went as far as showing it off to Sakura, who was both bemused by it and pats Ken on the shoulder for “making a broken angel feel complete again”.  
  
To Ken, though, seeing Hyde like this had never made him feel so accomplished in life. Especially those times after sex or when Hyde is asleep, and he can see those pair of wings. Sometimes whenever he cuddles with Hyde, he traces the patterns of the ink with his fingers, remembering almost exactly on where the lines are. Those tattooed wings on Hyde’s back always remind Ken of one thing of what he thinks of Hyde.  
  
Perfection.  
  
  
 **END**

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re wondering, then yes, in this AU, all members of Laruku, including Sakura, are not human. They act and live like humans, but there are a few things that make a difference.
> 
> Ken and Hyde are demon and angel respectively  
> Tetsu is an immortal  
> Yukihiro is an android (his human self was attached with robotic parts, so he stopped aging, and can live long as long as maintenance is given to him)  
> And Sakura is also a demon


End file.
